Friday, 8 November 2013

States to use sports science in search of excellence

All
the states in Malaysia can now utilise sports science as a tool to
improve the standard of their athletes after the MoU between NSI and
State Sports Councils was signed Thursday in Kuala Lumpur. - Filepic

PUTRAJAYA: It was a significant day for the
National Sports Institute (NSI), after its chief operating officer Datuk
Dr Ramlan Aziz signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 12 State
Sports Councils (SSCs) at the Youth and Sports Ministry on Thursday.

The MoU marks the start of a more structured way of enforcing sports
science approaches in all states - with the ultimate goal of
strengthening the grassroots programme.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who witnessed the MoU
signing, tasked all the states with embracing sports science as a tool
to improve the standard of state athletes.

“With this working understanding between NSI and the SSCs, the NSI
will now be able to extend their expertise in sports science to all the
states. It is the states’ responsibility to train and identify talent at
state level and now, they will have the sports science support to do
so,” said Khairy.

The move is also expected to see the gradual increase in work opportunities for sports science experts in the states.

Except for Sabah and Malacca, all other states signed the MoU. Sabah
and Malacca are expected to join the partnership later after they
finalise the venue details for their centres.

Meanwhile, Khairy said that the issue regarding the selection of high
jumper Lee Hup Wei and 400m hurdler Noraseela Khalid for the Myanmar
SEA Games squad has been resolved.

The issue arose when Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) did not
want to send Hup Wei and Noraseela because they did not meet the Games’
qualifying mark for their respective sports, but the National Sports
Council (NSC) proposed they be included based on past excellence.

“Noraseela has informed us that she is not competing. As for Hup Wei,
the NSC gave him a chance to prove himself at the Pahang Open but he
chose not to attend the tournament. So, both are not going for the
Games,” he said.

Khairy informed that he has another matter to resolve - a velodrome for the national cyclists.
With the velodrome in Cheras being abolished by next month and the
Class 1 velodrome in Nilai being completed only in two to three years’
time, the national cyclists have nowhere to train.

“I met up with the officials from the Malaysian National Cycling
Federation (MNCF). Without the velodrome in Cheras, the cyclists will
not have a training ground. I will now look at a training velodrome in
Kuala Lumpur for the cyclists,” he added.